Microsoft 365 Change Highlights - June 2025

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The first half of 2025 brought a variety of changes across Microsoft 365 - particularly in SharePoint. If you’ve been noticing shifts in design tools or functionality and want to stay in the loop, we’ve rounded up the key updates below.

SharePoint Page Related Updates

Page behavior in SharePoint continues to evolve. Communication site templates now create different default homepages, much like team sites. Each template has its own unique homepage name, and there’s a completely revamped template gallery with over 50 out-of-the-box page templates. Some are more useful than others, but the variety is notable. Additionally, News posts now display an estimated read time - giving readers a quick sense of how much time to invest.

Easier to Preview Page Design Across Platforms

It’s now much easier to preview how your pages will appear across desktop and mobile. This feature is particularly helpful when working with flexible layouts and ensures your content looks great everywhere.

Web parts have seen several small but meaningful improvements. Tables now support different heading layouts, column splitting, and color options. The text web part toolbar is now more functional - you can bold text, highlight, and apply formatting directly from the top of the web part, which wasn’t possible before.

Web Part Animations

Animations have been quietly introduced and are on by default. Many web parts now “slide up” into view when the page loads. The animation is very fast, and you might miss it, but it’s worth noting in case you’re surprised by the motion - or want to disable it.

Web Part Heading Size/Level

Most web parts now allow you to choose heading sizes, offering more control over visual hierarchy. A new title section can be enabled or disabled, helping guide layout. One caveat: the default heading level is H2, which may not align with accessibility or design best practices. Ideally, heading levels should follow a consistent, nested structure - something to be mindful of during setup.

Section tabs and updated Quick Links launched a few months ago. Layout and design have now been separated to reduce scrolling. There’s also a handy new button for adding links directly - no need to dive into the toolbox every time, making the process quicker and more intuitive.

SharePoint Alerts Retirement

Long-time SharePoint users may be impacted by the retirement of Alerts. Microsoft plans to phase them out completely over the next year. Replacing them are more flexible rules you can create directly in lists and libraries, or via Power Automate. For more complex or repetitive scenarios, a pro-code solution might be worth considering.

Viva Connections Dashboard Page Availability

Previously limited to the home site, Viva Connections dashboards can now be added to any site in your intranet. This means you can create custom dashboards across different pages and use dashboard cards more flexibly throughout your environment.

SPFx Field Customizers Retirement Evaluation

Originally slated for deprecation, Microsoft has now walked back the retirement of SPFx Field Customizers and is re-evaluating their future. These tools offer a pro-code approach to formatting columns - going beyond the UI-based options - and are essential for many advanced customizations. Stay tuned for updates as this remains under review.

As always, we’re keeping a close eye on these changes and how they impact the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. For deeper insights, practical guidance, and real-time discussion around what these updates mean for your intranet, we encourage you to continue tuning in to Ask Sympraxis. It’s a space where we break down the latest developments, share our experiences, and answer your questions live - so you can stay ahead of what’s new and what’s next.

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